Geno Smith is a starting quarterback in New York again — just not the way anyone envisioned it.
The ex-Jet was informed Tuesday he will be the first Giants quarterback not named Eli Manning to start a game for the franchise since 2004 when they travel to take on the Raiders on Sunday.
“I know I’m ready,” said Smith, who will make the Giants the 32nd and final NFL team to have a game started by a black quarterback. “I’m always excited to have an opportunity to play, but there’s no major reaction — didn’t throw a party or anything. Just went to work.”
The plan is for rookie Davis Webb to also get some playing time over the final five weeks of the season as Manning takes a backseat in order for the organization to evaluate its future.
Webb has not yet taken a regular-season snap in the NFL while Smith hasn’t started since making a cameo for Ryan Fitzpatrick and the Jets last October. Smith had previously started 29 games with Gang Green in his first two years in the league before his Jets career turned sour.
While Smith has had an opportunity to prove himself as an NFL quarterback, the pending free agent is still getting the nod over Webb.
“Geno’s come in and done everything we’ve asked him to do,” coach Ben McAdoo said. “He won the backup job and we want to throw him out there and see how he performs. We feel we can put a good plan together and put him in position to help us win this ballgame.”
McAdoo was less specific on the plan for Webb, declining to say if he would be active Sunday for the first time this season. But the first-year quarterback remained ready.
“It doesn’t affect my preparation,” said Webb, who was effusive in his praise for Manning. “I get up here pretty early and I stay here pretty dang late and I always prepare like if my opportunity came tomorrow, I’d be ready and I approached it that way since the day I got here.”
The decision caught plenty of players off guard when McAdoo announced it Tuesday, but Smith said nothing surprises him anymore in his fifth year in the league.
“Anything can happen and no one’s job is 100 percent secure,” Smith said. “… It’s a business and every man has to do what it takes to feed his family.”
Smith said guys were “fired up,” giving him hugs and handshakes after he was announced as the starter, knowing what he’s been through in his NFL career.
Webb, meanwhile, took Tuesday as another lesson taught by the “best teammate I’ve ever had in my life.”
“Today was pretty big,” Webb said. “The way [Manning] handled himself, the way he handled himself in front of his teammates, myself and Geno included, he was first class.”